Polls strongly suggest that Question 3 on the ballot will pass on Election Day, Nov. 6, and will legalize medical marijuana in Massachusetts.

Polls strongly suggest that Question 3 on the ballot will pass on Election Day, Nov. 6, and will legalize medical marijuana in Massachusetts.

Opponents of the question offer concerns about statistics from other states where medical marijuana has been legalized, specifically data that says 75 percent of youths treated for marijuana addiction regularly smoked illicitly obtained medical marijuana.

This suggests that there is a vitally important burden upon the state Department of Public Health to instruct children and adults alike that marijuana use is not without risk or harm. The law requires doctors to tell this to patients considering medical marijuana. But the state has a duty to communicate those risks to every resident.

Adults — patients or not — need to know the side-effects of smoking, and they need to know about impairment due to intoxication.

Children need to know about the real dangers of muddling their minds, punishing their lungs and disrupting the development of their brains when important, permanent physiological changes are taking place in their craniums.

The law is intended to help bring therapeutic relief to thousands of Massachusetts residents, and we believe that responsible, informed adults should have that option.

For many of the sufferers of AIDS, cancer, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma and other diseases, the benefits of smoking, eating, vaporizing or otherwise ingesting marijuana are significant.

The Standard-Times supports the option of medical marijuana for Massachusetts, but we also expect the state to regulate it, continue to test it, and share all the facts with its residents to protect them from the other side of this double-edged sword.